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One aspect of the Bill that received close attention from Members of the Bills Committee was its impact on the media. This was also something that the Law Reform Commission took a great deal of trouble over. A whole chapter of the relevant Law Reform Commission report was devoted to this subject and in preparing the Bill we closely followed the Commission's recommendations on this. Nevertheless. Members of the Bills Committee felt there was a need for additional safeguards for the media with regard to the powers of the Privacy Commissioner to carry out investigations. The Bill already provides that the Privacy Commissioner may only carry out an investigation in relation to personal data held for a news activity where there has been a complaint of a suspected breach of the Bill's requirements. As a positive response to Members' concerns, our Committee Stage amendments go further than this by providing that such an investigation may only be carried out in relation to such data that have already been published or broadcast. I will also be moving an amendment to the definition of news activity to ensure that it includes all journalistic activities.
In addition, we originally proposed amendments to clause 44 that provided for restrictions on the Privacy Commissioner's power to require the furnishing of information or production of a document that would reveal the identity of a journalistic source. The Hon James To will move a Committee Stage amendment that provides for a variation on our proposals by involving the High Court in making a decision on whether or not the identity of a journalistic source should be revealed to the Commissioner. We have given careful consideration to this proposed amendment and have decided that the involvement of the High Court as an independent adjudicator in this matter is acceptable. Accordingly, I have withdrawn my amendments to clause 44 and recommend that Hon. Members vote in favour of those to be proposed by the Hon James To.
With this, Mr President, I recommend the Personal Data (Privacy) Bill to Members for Second Reading.
End/Thursday, July 27, 1995
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